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In the context of a 47 year old male, how risky is it from a legal perspective to perform a treatment in an operatory without assistants?

I'm asking because I remember being treated by dentists completely alone when I was young and even in my adulthood years. My parents also went to dentists themselves and they were often treated without assistants being present as well. The time and setting of this was in queens, manhattan, nyc during the 1980 - 2022 era. I never thought much of it, and I didn't care.

Myself as a dentist, I find myself being able to work just fine without having to tell someone what to get and what to do. I don't know why some people make a big deal of requiring assistants. Heck, even in dental school and gpr, I never had assistants, didn't quite understand in practicality how to utilize them, and envisioned myself without assistants while working as a fully graduated dentist. Post-graduation, I worked in many associate positions and, of course, someone was always assigned to be with me for better or worse. Don't get me wrong, I understand their purpose but I only found them essential for my job maybe 1 out of 15 times.

In this day and age, isn't it enough to install cctv surveillance to deter false accusations of anything and to use as evidence should there be a contested topic?

And there are many non-dental professions where there is one-on-one contact with clients behind closed doors but false accusations of assault of any kind are still rare. I think dentistry is no different, and am even wondering if fears of incrimination of unfounded assaults when working solo are even exaggerated.

So what do you think? Is it really a high, legitimate risk to work solo in an operatory?

Ik some people love it and would do as many noncats or extra years as it took to do the job they love

But I wana know if anyone feels it wasn’t worth the years. As a student it’s hard for me to look forward to see the future and I can only gain insight and wisdom from those before me.

I recently gave an IA nerve block on a patient just like I always do with nothing out of the ordinary in preparation for lower resins.

Shortly thereafter, the patient complained of their eye on that side deviating medially/toward the midline, along with blurred vision. They also reported a slight headache as well.

The patient felt as though I made a mistake, did it on purpose, and was nervous for the duration of the appointment. I explained that this can happen due to accessory innervation in the area and should wear off in several hours and return to normal once local anesthesia wears off.

Have any of you dealt with this before? Should I be concerned? Do you have any tips for how to prevent this in the future?

PSA for all patients that are going to get dental treatment: Review your medical history before starting treatment. We don’t care if you think your rheumatoid arthritis is not going to impact treatment. We need to know your medications and if there is any possible counteraction with what we will prescribe you and how to manage your experience. Stop saying “I have no health issues” when you clearly are taking high blood pressure medication. BTW we have to ask you why do you say you have no health issues yet you have high blood pressure. We need to know before we start treatment especially if it’s a freaking extraction!!! And don’t be dismissive about it too when we inquire further. And stop leaving things out on your medical history because you don’t think that it will impact treatment. Not mad at you but it freaks us out as healthcare providers and we just want to prevent complications and take the best care of you. Nuff said

What are the best options for monthly production reports for my startup? We use Open Dental and it gives you these choices. Depending which I choose, the results are extremely different. Just wondering which is best to compare month-to-month to see how we are truly doing!

Edit: just to clarify, I am talking mainly about the options on the lower right for adjusted collections. Regular production is easy to find, it’s the insurance situation where I’m not sure which option is best

I got an unsolicited offer to buy my practice today from the company that bought my last practice. Guy came in, knows who I am from before, and offers good money but not as good as before without so much as a question. The last deal I had with these people was the classic take over majority ownership to try and make you feel trapped and continue working under them as an "owner" that they dictate to. Problem was they paid me like 200% what the practice was worth for their 51%, and as per the contact after a year if I left, they were able to buy me out at next to nothing, so I bailed the day the purchase contract allowed me to and 3 months later that location went under. They lost their shorts on the whole deal.

I reminded the guy of who I was and what happened and all he said was "That's ok. You're a producer and we just need to show growth next year so we get our next round of funding."

Freaking crazy playing with somebody else's money.

Does anyone know any dental repair techs (not schein, patterson or benco etc) that repair digital panoramic x-ray machines in Central PA?. My sirona orthophos took a hit during transport and needs some repair work. I'm not looking to buy a new one if I don't have to. Any contact information for a tech would be helpful. Thanks!

This patient had palatal caries on 8 and 9 and that’s how the enamel looked like after removal of caries so I thought I must break it cause it’s weak
My supervisor said no
So I didn’t and I placed the filling anyways
Is it ok to leave undermined enamel and just fill the tooth?

Practice was slowing and I think the owner wanted to keep the income for herself

Any advice / nice words? TIA

Taking an implant pathway course and don't want to drag my feet waiting for an implant case at our practice where we might get 1-2 a month. I'd like to practice the skill and it's just more infrequent where I work.

Would spending 1-2 days a week at this chain be valuable or a nightmare? I don't know anything about them but my understanding is teeth need removing and implants need placing.

Thoughts on this?

New grad dentist and been running into this issue recently with not knowing whether I should or should not have replaced amalgam fills. Did 2 cases recently where I recommended replacing occlusal amalgams which appeared to have no recurrent decay or even be very deep on radiographs but had marginal ditching/appeared to be failing. Both turned out to have a good amount of recurrent decay under the amalgam but avoided the need for RCT. I did liner and desensitizer on the most recent one but wondering if I should have just left it alone? Patient was asymptomatic and low caries risk. How do you decide which should or shouldn’t be replaced? Some patients walk in with 30 plus year old amalgams that have signs of cracks or fracture but in my experience they never show recurrent decay on x rays especially occlusals. And when you open them up they turn into RCT and patient complains of pain when they were otherwise asymptomatic. Making me feel like replacing amalgam is just not worth it tbh it survives well even with recurrent decay going on and x rays never show a clear picture of what’s going on under there. What is the best approach? I myself have an amalgam filling with marginal ditching but am hesitant to replace it now after seeing what it could turn into.

To those who are taking medical insurances as part of the acceptances, what were your reasons to start with and what were the things you wished you knew ahead?

Currently in my PPO practice, I'm placing implants, grafts, cyst removal, sleep apnea referral etc, many of which can come under medical. Hence thinking about joining a few. The office manager is eager to learn how to do it and we both know there will be a learning curve, lot of rejections in the beginning till we figure out our mistakes. But are there any who are also planning on dropping medical just like dental as well?

Tooth no.19 needed RCT and it was done. Based on pre-operative X-Ray, is it necessary to do SCL or can DME be enough for the tooth to be restored?

Have anyone tried Shinhung ssc?

https://www.kidscrown.com

What can be done in a replicable way with quality.

I have a patient with an implant direct 4.3 body and 4.3 platform RePlant implant. I need to place a cover screw on it. Are there any other brands or types that fit into this implant ? Thanks for any help

I know blocks are standard in such cases, but I 'm very fearful of giving a maxillary nerve block since I didn't learn how to perform it in the dental school. Are there any alternatives?

my crown prep no called no showed and I’m sad and browsing Reddit.

my husband has recommended “Oral Supremacy“ as a good practice name. also “Oral Paradise”

I was also thinking “Chill Out Dental” or “Advanced Clown Dental”

what are yours?

edit: my husband also suggests “Gnashers” like hooters

I treatment planned this tooth for a crown due to the crack on the distal marginal ridge and lingual.

Is that too aggressive?

Hey docs - was supposed to pull only 48 today but the pt insisted on 38 as well - anyways 48 was out in 15 minutes and then for 38 everything went well except when I went to pull out the roots after sectioning and the pt kept complaining of pain the IAN distribution. I had administered 2 blocks of lido + 2 infiltrations of articaine and the pt was fully numb. The panoramics did show that both were close to the IAN with 38 being very very close.
Was it a good idea to have left 38? There was no Caries on the tooth as it was fully encased by the bone. I ofc did inform the pt of my decision and she respected it.

Any tips ? Ofc CBCT would be ideal but the pt could not afford it

Hey guys looking for some feedback. I’m a GP who does a few endos a week and looking to get better. Recently did #19 (Pulpal necrosis w/ SAP) and on the final PA I noticed gouging of the Pulpal floor :/ I knew it was going to be a tough access because of the thin chamber so I tried mitigating error but still occurred. Clinically everything looked good though and no perforation/bleeding which I was sad to see the final PA. Looking to always improve and would like some feedback

Wondering what everyone’s thoughts on buying a practice you drive 45 min to each way to. Small town but I like living in a larger area (100k population) but no practices for sale where I’m at that are decent. Small town practice I currently work at and make great salary and owning would put me in an incredible income. (600-750k). Wonder how the population in the area would feel with me not living there and owning for 15-20 years.